


The Field Party

by JeanjacketCarf



Series: A Night Out with the Flash [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alcohol, Explicit Language, Gen, Historical References, Sex Talk, Stargazing, Team Bonding, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 11:24:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11896740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeanjacketCarf/pseuds/JeanjacketCarf
Summary: Cisco takes part of the gang stargazing, HR shares a bit about his past, they have a lot of beers





	The Field Party

Central City had a strange quality to it. One which wasn’t mentioned in most of the guide books but was widely known as a sort of local quirk. By some fluke of construction, most of the city’s lights were directed entirely upward so just outside the city limits if you faced away from it the whole sky opened up without a hint of light pollution. It had always amazed Cisco how dark it could get just 20 minutes outside of town but here he was setting up his telescope by headlamp. 

It was a recent addition to the usual slate of activities for Team Flash. Usual activities being going out drinking and movie nights. Cisco was trying to organize them to go out to actual movie theaters and watch new movies since they were quickly burning through his rather extensive DVD collection and apparently some of the stuff in theaters right now was pretty damn good, but it hadn’t worked out too well. While Barry’s cheapness was a bit of a surprise, it really shouldn’t have shocked Cisco that Caitlin was horrified at the very idea of bringing him into a movie theater.

“But you’ll talk through the whole movie, Cisco. That’s so rude.” She’d actually been squirming in her seat the whole time they were at the outdoor screening with Joe and Cecile, which only encouraged him to talk more. The embarrassment had almost distracted her from the whole Killer Frost thing. At least until Shade showed up to ruin it. 

So in hopes of getting them to do something else together, Cisco had suggested they go star gazing. It had been a favorite activity of his back when he was just a young nerd who dreamed of being an astronaut and re-enacting Star Trek. One of the few things he and Dante had actually enjoyed doing together when they were little if only because they spent most of the time without saying a word to one another. 

He thought it could be a fun thing to connect them now, in the wake of everything. But Barry and Iris had not entirely unexpectedly bailed since they had you know couply things to do, Wally had homework since he was still a student and well Julian was a bit of a workaholic it seemed. So it was just the three of them. The ones with nothing and no one to go home to. Not even cats, just IKEA furniture waiting in empty apartments. Well, HR didn’t even have an apartment. He was living deep in the bowels of STAR Labs on Harry’s recently vacated cot. 

“This was an excellent idea, Francisco. Looking at stars, magnificent! Though on my earth it was more of a romantic activity than something to be done with one’s compatriots,” HR called as he tossed down a cooler full of beers. 

Caitlin chuckled as she spread out a picnic blanket on the ground. Around them, the summer air was charged with the sounds of insects and night birds. The distant shadows of trees swayed in a slight breeze on the other side of the field.

“Actually, it’s that on this earth too. Or at least an excuse for making out.”

“Um, excuse me. I would never do such a thing. The stars are serious business. There’s supposed to be meteor showers tonight and Venus is finally in the right position to view,” Cisco huffed indignantly. 

“Ah, the star of love. I’m afraid you might be sending mixed signals there, my friend.” Somehow Cisco could actually hear HR’s raised eyebrows in his voice since he couldn’t actually see them in the dark.

“Not this joke again!” Caitlin groaned and threw herself down on the blanket. “If we’re going to start this again, pass me a beer.”

“Again?” HR asked.

Cisco said “Don’t ask!” at the same time that Caitlin said, “Cisco’s been trying to start an orgy for years.” 

“I have not! You guys are nowhere near threatening enough to interest me,” Cisco said spinning around to face them and blinding Caitlin with his headlamp. She let out a yelp and held up a hand to block the light.

“Aw, yes. I’ve definitely seen your type, Francisco. Since you, you know, tried to ask my would-be murderer on a date. In front of me. Right after she shot me.”

“Yeah, well watch it. I might call her back to come get you just so we can have that date.”

“You know, Francisco, when you say things like that I wonder if you’re really invested in the date we’re on right now.”

“Annnnd it’s back,” Caitlin muttered. Cisco chuckled and went to grab a beer from the cooler. He twisted off the top with a pop and a carbonated fizz. They had probably packed too many if they were planning on driving back but the great thing about Barry was he didn’t even have to be there to be the designated driver. Except that he was a phenomenally bad driver. That was a bit of a problem. He fished another beer out from the ice and brought it over to Caitlin. 

“Scoot over,” he said moving to sit beside her on the picnic blanket. She did and accepted the beer with a muttered thanks. 

HR remained standing, his dark figure silhouetted against the bright stars. The whole of the milky way stretched out over his head in the moonless sky. Cisco wondered what it was about Harrison Wells’ and wearing black all the time. 

“This reminds me of when I was covering the Greco-Turkish War in ‘03. I was out in the desert all night, sleeping under the stars and it would get so quiet it was like you could actually hear the earth for once. Well, between the artillery shellings that is.”

“You were a reporter?” Caitlin asked, clearly deciding not to ask about how a war from 1897 had ended up taking place in 2003 on Earth 19. 

“A lot of great writers started out as reporters. It teaches you to keep deadlines but I never really liked it. They always wanted you to keep your opinions out of it. I can’t tell you how many times my editor yelled at me for adding in my own judgments or waxing poetic. But that’s really all I wanted to do.” Cisco laughed. Yeah, that sounded like HR alright. “What?”

“Nothing,” Cisco responded. “It’s just you don’t usually tell us that much about yourself.”

“I guess I just don’t think the actual version of my life is as interesting as what I can make up.”

“It sounds pretty interesting to me,” Caitlin said, patting the spot on the other side of her. 

There was something about the dark that made people feel like telling and hearing stories, Cisco had noticed. Flashing white teeth, HR dropped down beside them with that characteristic childlike energy of his. Sometimes Cisco couldn’t help but think of the older man like he was their collective kid. Maybe that was where that sudden rush of protectiveness which drove him into a battle to the death had come from. When Caitlin scooted over to make room, bumping into Cisco’s shoulder, he got the sense that she felt the same way. Well, what a weird group they were.   
Cisco switched off his headlamp, plunging them into darkness and took a sip of his beer. It was an unusually yeasty and foamy brand, apparently one of Cait’s favorites. Not quite to his taste but good enough on a cool summer night. 

“Mmm, this is almost as good as coffee!” HR laughed out with a loud smack of his lips. Caitlin giggled in response.

“Thanks, I picked it out myself. They make it with vanilla apparently. Ronnie discovered it when he had an engineering conference in Coast City and brought some home with him. I’ve been a fan ever since.”

HR took a long swallow. Good God, Cisco thought, he’s chugging it.

“Well, he had really good taste.”

“Yeah, he did. For beer and pizza mainly,” Caitlin replied. Cisco got the sense that she might have been blushing but it was hard to tell in the dark. It had been a long time since she’d talked about Ronnie. Cisco spent a lot of time tip toeing around the subject himself, but HR had a way of making people feel at ease even if he was incredibly aggravating half the time.

“Sounds like my kind of guy. I wish I could have met him.”

“Me too,” now Caitlin’s voice had a hint of wistfulness to it but still happier than he would have expected. Cisco wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. She leaned into him comfortably. 

“So, uh, HR what was it like being a war correspondent?” Cisco asked trying to redirect the conversation.

“Oh, stupendous! I thought I was going to die half the time,” a grin coming through clearly in his voice. “I always wanted to be a soldier when I was a boy so I thought I would get a taste of it. I don’t think I’m really cut out for it, though. I like fictional violence a lot more than actual violence. Anyways, that’s actually where I met Randolph. He was a technical advisor for the League of Nations’ peacekeeping force. We hit it off right away. I guess you could say he took me under his wing. When we got back to the States, we came up with the idea for STAR Labs. Randolph was such a brilliant scientist but he could never really run a business. Talking to the press, to stockholders, even employees it all gave him anxiety. So I handled all that and became ‘HR Wells, the genius’. He was always such a good friend to me. I wish I could have been a better one in return.”

“It sounds to me like you were,” Caitlin said. “You did what he couldn’t and he did what you couldn’t. That’s how the best partnerships work I’ve always found.”

“I suppose but it always felt like I was just taking credit for all his hard work. He’s better off without me.”

“I’ll admit, HR, when you first came here I thought the same thing. But now. Well, I’m just really glad you’re here. You’re a bigger help than you know.”

“Aw shucks. Thanks, Cisco.” Cisco got the feeling HR didn’t really take him seriously but what could he do? He had said some things that he still regretted and he couldn’t take them back. He just had to move forward and try to be more honest. 

“Okay, let’s drink some more before this turns into a total sob fest,” Caitlin grumbled as she stood up to retrieve more drinks from the cooler. So it seemed they would probably need to call Barry to pick them up after all. In the middle of the night. Yeah, they were great friends. 

Several beers later, they were all laying on their backs watching the stars. A flurry of bright streaks crossed the sky. They were just pebbles burning up in the earth’s atmosphere but they still took Cisco’s breath away. He could only imagine what ancient peoples used to think of them, back when the sky was the only show in town.   
“Burning in the night. Tiny lights in the soul’s darkest hours. The earth turns and quakes but the sky, the sky it rules. Out beyond these stars stretch a million, billion hearts with languages we’ll never know. How is it that we feel so alone in a universe that breaths, consumes us like a living animal?” 

Cisco laughed aloud. “HR was that poetry?”

“A little bit.”

“I didn’t know you wrote poetry.”

“I’m a man of many talents, Francisco. Ambrose Bierce, you know, was a journalist, a novelist, and a poet.”   
Cisco turned to Caitlin. He was just able to make out the shape of her face now that his eyes were adjusted to the dark. She smiled curiously at him.

“Do you know who the hell Ambrose Bierce is?”

“Not a clue.”

“Oh, come on! The Old Gringo is my favorite movie. He’s up there with Elvis and Tupac of people who might still be alive.”

“I literally have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You’ve never even heard of my literary hero. Unbelievable! Now I wish I hadn’t shared my poetry with you, ingrates.” 

Caitlin and Cisco laughed unapologetically. The crickets seemed to agree.

It wasn’t until Cisco woke up with a terrible taste in his mouth, a crick in his neck, and a face full of dew that he realized they had forgotten to call Barry. The birds were obnoxiously loud and he had a raging hangover which wasn’t helped by sleeping on the ground all night. It was an unholy time in the morning but the sun didn’t look like it was going to go back down out of politeness. He turned to look at Caitlin as she stirred.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, fuck, indeed,” he agreed.

“We fell asleep.”

“Yes.”

“Where’s HR?” Cisco turned, searching. Oh, there he was. Peeing in the bushes. 

Lovely.

HR trotted back over. His smile was way too bright.

“Hey, guys I think we fell asleep. Let’s get some coffee.” For once, that sounded like an excellent idea to Cisco.   
Barry gave them all a weird look when they rolled into the Cortex with leaves in their hair.

“So I guess the orgy did happen after all. I thought that was a joke.”

“Shut the fuck up, BA,” Caitlin growled.


End file.
